News notes - Long Island Sound

Four Huntington, N.Y.-area yacht clubs have joined forces to consolidate their racing programs into the Target Rock Regatta, a series of spring and fall sailboat races to be held in HuntingtonBay and western Long Island Sound.

Huntington Yacht Club, Lloyd Harbor Yacht Club, Masthead Cove Yacht Club and Northport Yacht Club have joined together their race committee efforts. The Target Rock series now is a qualifying event for Yacht Racing Association of Long Island Sound trophies.

David Strickler, Masthead Cove’s racing fleet captain, says the unified regatta offers greater opportunities for racers by featuring more boats at the starting line, higher-levels of competition and greater organization.

The Coast Guard is planning to spend more time on the Connecticut River, near Middletown, Conn., this summer.

“We’ve always had a significant presence on the river but have noticed in the past few years that boating activity there has increased,” explains Vanessa Loony with Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound. “We just want to make sure that, in working with local fire and police stations, that all aspects of search and rescue missions are covered, if an incident were to occur.”

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Last year, between March and October, Coast Guard crews were on the Connecticut River near Middletown between three and four weekends, Loony says. This year crews will be on the river for about eight weekends. “Our crews will be on the local waters and will stay in local hotels during those weekends,” Loony says.

It takes Coast Guard officials a consi-derable amount of time to respond to boats in distress on the Connecticut River. “Coast Guard station New London is the closest, and it can take almost an hour to get to Middletown by boat from there,” says Loony. “A helicopter crew coming from station Cape Cod might take 40 minutes.

“That’s why we feel it’s important that we increase our presence on the river and augment our local partners’ response,” she adds. The Middletown, South Fire District and Portland fire departments serve as first responders to emergencies on the Connecticut River.

“We hope this effort will help make sure that boats in distress can get assistance in the quickest way possible,” Loony says.

— Jason Fell

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Staten Island Yacht Sales is named Cabo dealer

Staten Island Yacht Sales was named in February as the official dealer for Cabo Yachts in the state of New York.

The company announced plans to open an office at the Montauk Yacht Club on Long Island to cater to its burgeoning lar-ger new and used yacht segment. The newly added Cabo line will be part of Staten Island Yacht Sales’ Yacht Division, which includes Viking Yachts, Marquis, Viking Sport Cruisers and Ocean Yachts.

Staten Island Yacht Sales has been selling boats for 42 years with three on-water locations in Staten Island, Freeport and New Gretna, N.J.

Cabo Yachts builds flybridge and express sportfishing boats from its production facility in Adelanto, Calif.www.siyachts.com